AS the Sport Corner Siam Hockey League (SHL) took to its Christmas and New Year’s break, AWARE was sitting atop the table with a 5-2 record; Expedia was in second with a 4-3 mark; the Sukhumvit Spitfires were in third at 3-4 and Hertz was in last with a 2-5.

Expedia’s Jordan Ashton and Juhani Ijas lead the stats race with ten points each, though all of Ashton’s points are on goals. Super-sub Tewin Chartsuwan sits in second with eight points and Expedia’s John Schachnovsky, last season’s leading scorer, and Sukhumvit’s Ernesto Bauer, are tied for third place with seven points each.

Hertz, who got off to an atrocious 0-4 start, seem to have found their groove as keeper Lance Parker is returning to the form that saw him lead the Sukhumvit Spitfires to the top spot in the SHL’s regular season last year when he was that team’s goalkeeper. Hertz has been bolstered by the return of two key Swedish players, Peter Bjoresson and Kim Lidberg, who coincidentally were missing for Hertz’s first four games.

The Sukhumvit Spitfires continue to confound SHL pundits; the team started like gangbusters, winning their first three games, but have dropped their last four, which included one disqualification when their goalie failed to show up for the game on time. One of their star players, Michael White, has returned to the squad, after missing the first six games of the season. This gives the diehard Spitfire fan base some hope.

Expedia’s Jordan Ashton continues to astound in his rookie season, scoring six times in an Expedia 11-1 rout of Hertz. Ashton scored five of those goals in one period, setting SHL records for most goals in both a period and a game.

Another interesting development is the tremendous play of young Thai goalies in the SHL system when they are called upon to substitute. Both Juiz Lertitsiri and Pop Ungkulpattanasuk won Rolling Stone Pizza player-of-the-game awards, the latter defeating her brother Dream in a classic brother-sister goalie match-up.

Lastly, Hertz’s Carly Hill, the only full-time female SHL player, continues to turn heads with her stellar play, winning the SHL PoG award in her team’s recent victory over Expedia.